Organized retail and Westside stores

Minor project report on

“Organized Retail and Westside stores”
TOWARDS FULFILLMENT OF THE PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
OF GRADUATE DEGREE IN BACHELOR IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
OF GGSIP UNIVERISTY

SUBMITTED BY:
GAUTAM DUBEY
BBA-3RD SEM
ROLL NO: 0721491708
BATCH : 2008-2011

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. ANKUR CHABRA
(LECTURER)

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

MAHARAJA SURAJMAL INSTITUTE,

(AFFILIATED TO GGSIPU),

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 Organized retail and Westside stores

C-4, JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that GAUTAM DUBEY, a student for the BBA course at
Maharaja Surajmal Institute (affiliated to GGSIP UNIVERSITY), Janakpuri,
Delhi, has completed a project on “Organized Retail and Westside stores”
under my guidance during this year. His work and output has been found to be
satisfactory.

Date:

Place:

(Signature of the Guide)

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 Organized retail and Westside stores

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was done in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
BBA. The three things which go on to make a successful endeavor are dedication,
hard work and correct guidance. Able and timely guidance not only helps in
making an effort fruitful, but also transforms the whole process of learning into an
enjoyable and memorable experience.

This project proved as an excellent opportunity for me to apply the concepts learnt
in the course of my program at the institute. I am also thankful to GGSIP
UNIVERSITY, Delhi for giving me this opportunity which helped me in gaining
knowledge about organized retail industry.

I am deeply indebted towards Lect. Mr. ANKUR CHABRA for guiding me in

preparing this project. I take this opportunity to thank all the people without whose
help, guidance and inputs it would not have been possible to make the project
report a success.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who were directly or indirectly related to
my project.

- Gautam Dubey

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 Organized retail and Westside stores

Table of Contents

• Certificate
2

• Acknowledgement
3

• Company profile
5

• Organized retail industry

8

• Working of Westside stores

25

• S.W.O.T analysis of Westside stores

41

• Analysis of Westside story

42

• References
43

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Company Profile

The story began when in 1998 Tata acquired Littlewoods, a London based retail chain.
This acquisition was followed by the establishment of Trent ( a Tata enterprise that
presently operates the Westside brand)
In a rapidly evolving retail scenario, Westside has carved a niche for its brand of
merchandise creating a loyal following. Currently, the company has 41 Westside stores
measuring 15,000-30,000 square feet each across 22 cities.
With a variety of designs and styles, everything at Westside is exclusively designed and
the merchandise ranges from stylized clothes, footwear and accessories for men, women
and children to well-co-coordinated table linens, artifacts, home accessories and
furnishings. Well-designed interiors, sprawling space, prime locations and coffee shops
enhance the customers’ shopping experience.

Established in 1998 as part of the Tata Group, Trent Ltd. operates Westside, one of
India’s largest and fastest growing chains of retail stores. Largest and fastest growing
chains of retail stores Westside operates under departmental store format. Westside
stores have numerous departments to meet the varied shopping needs of customers. These

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include Menswear, Women’s wear, Kid’s wear, Footwear, Cosmetics, Perfumes,

Handbags, Household accessories.
Westside operates under departmental store format. Westside stores have numerous
departments to meet the varied shopping needs of customers. These include Menswear,
Women’s wear, Kid’s wear Footwear, Cosmetics, Perfumes, Handbags, Household
accessories and Gifts. The Company has already established 36 Westside departmental
stores in Ahmedabad, The Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida,
Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur,
Pune, and Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Jammu. Company hopes to expand rapidly with
similar format stores that offer a fine balance between style and price retailing.

Westside garnered various accolades:

• Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame

• India Brand Summit – Brand Leadership Retail
• IFA Visionary of the Year Award, 2002 – Mrs. Simone N. Tata
• Most Admired Large Format Retail Chain of the Year - Lycra Images
Fashion Awards 2005
• NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2006 - Retail Category

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Mission Statement

“To be regarded by our customers as the most relevant retailer in the country.”
In order to achieve this goal, the company has developed a comprehensive understanding
of customers needs, strive to win their confidence, and offer them best-in-class products
and services at affordable prices. It is their policy to satisfy customers with the range,
quality and value of the products they offer.

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Organized
Retail
Industry.

What is Retail?

The everyday definition of retail can be described as the act of selling of goods and
merchandise from a fixed location. In other words retailing is a distribution channel
function where the retailing organization will buy products from certain manufacturers

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and then sell it directly to consumers. A retailer is a reseller from which a consumer
purchases products.
The origin of the word retail is considered to be from the French word ‘retaillier’ which
directly converts into the meaning that it is breaking of products in larger consignments
into smaller packages for general consumption terms of tailoring. To use the concept,
Means to "cutting off, clip and divide" in Retailing. Perhaps the concept of retail exists
from the times of established currencies if not from the times when the barter system was
prevalent. However, the irony of the Indian retailing industry is that even tough it is one
of the basic financial activities carried out in an economy, it is considered to be the
newest when taken in the form of an organized sector in itself. The retail industry in
United States is considered to be most evolved. This fact is proved by the fact that the
biggest retail corporations of the world that appear in the top 50 ranks of the Fortune 500
list are all headquartered in United States. The famed list is headed by Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. and there are other very reputed like Home Depot, Kroger, Costco and Target. The
significance of this fact is that the organized retail sector is driven by the practices of the
United States Retail industry and the concepts are based around the same.

Stages of retailing

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Retailing does not only comprise of selling the products to customer but it is also taking
care of the entire product movement cycle. This path from manufacturer to the consumer
has a very important stage known as the Retail Supply Chain. The retailing cycle
involves key the following key components:

1. Suppliers and/or Manufacturers

2. Logistics Partners
3. Warehouse
4. Distribution Centers
5. Stores
6. Customers

Popular formats of retailing

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Since the retail industry covers a wide range of corporations, it can be classified in
various formats. However the most popular format of classification is by the type of
business channel the retailer implements to do business. Some of the popular categories
are:

Mom-and-Pop Stores: This is represented by the small, individually owned and the
local operated retail outlet. It is often seen that these are family-run businesses which
cater to community and are capable to provide high level of service. However they often
have a limited product selection.

Mass Discounters: These are the type of retailers who sell either general or specialty
merchandise. But their forte is in offering discount pricing to their customers. Compared
to department stores, mass discounters offer fewer services and lower quality products.

Warehouse Stores: This is a form of mass discounter retailer. The prices offered by
these types of retailers is even less than traditional mass discounters. However, the
constraint on buyers is that they need to make purchases in quantities that are greater the
quantities that can be purchased at mass discount stores. The level of service is often low
and product selection can also be limited. Also notable is that these stores are of
warehouse style where customers might be found selecting products off the ground from
a shipping package.
Another form of warehouse stores is warehouse clubs where customers need to be
members to be able to make purchases.

Category Killers: Major retailers also focus on a concept of specialty stores wherein
they service by providing multitude of options within that product category. In Indian
parlance, the concept of “category killers” is often found in the product categories as
electronics (The E-Zone), office supplies (Office Linc) and Books (Crosswords).

Department Stores: These retailers offer mid-to-high quality products and strong level
of service. However in most cases these retailers do not fall into the full-service category.
Even though the Department stores are classified as general merchandisers; some
retailers may opt to carry a more selective product line. For instance, while Big Bazaar
carries a wide range of products from grocery to electronics, Shoppers Stop focuses
primarily their products on apparel and lifestyle products.

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Boutique: These are usually small stores catering very specialized or niche products
which is often high-end merchandise. Also in all cases the level of service is very high
for this format. They often follow a full-pricing strategy and have prices which are more
than the prices of merchandise available in any of the other formats.

Catalogue Retailers: The concept of this form of retailing is that the customers will
place orders after seeing products from a published catalogue. Tata Sons retail venture
utilizes this business channel. Orders can either be delivered by in house logistics or a
Croma third-party shipper. The format utilized by McDonalds and Pizza Hut outlets for
their delivery model can be identified as this format.

E-tailers: In this format the retailer principally sells via the Internet. There are thousands
of online-only retail sellers of which EBay is the most famous in India. The benefit of
this format for customers is that it is open 24X7 and for the retailer is that it does not
need to stock the merchandise.

Franchise: This form of retailing comprises of a contractual channel where one part the
franchisor controls the business activities of the other party franchisee. The franchisee
has access to the franchisor’s business methods and other important business aspects,
such as the franchise name. In return the franchisee shares a part of the revenue with the
franchisor. The common examples are McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

Convenience Store: As the name implies these general merchandise retailers cater to
offering customers an easy purchase experience. Convenience is offered in many ways
including through easily accessible store locations, small store size that allows for quick
shopping, and fast checkout. The product selection offered by these retailers is very
limited and pricing can be high.

Vending: This form of retailing involves utilizing automated methods for customers to
quickly purchase the desired product. This can be interactive kiosks and vending
machines. The presence of vending machines for purchase of smaller items, such as
beverages and snack food, is already common in case of products like beverages a and
magazines. However newer devices are entering the market which will be able to vend
more expensive and bulkier products. By access of either Internet or telecommunications
link, these systems will enable customers to use credit cards.

The retailing challenge

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The challenge of retailing is to strike the balance between cost optimization and
maintaining the level of service. The tradeoff between these factors is a dynamic one and
retailers have to Endeavour to strike a balance towards it all times.

Concerns among retailers

In the global context, for retailers to be successful need is to address various issues which
are inherently related to their business. The key issues include:

¬ Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors

which determine the success of business. Only way to keep customers loyal is by making
them satisfied. Needless to say the retailers need to have strategies in place that build
relationships with customers and hence customers keep returning to make more
purchases
¬ Ability to Acquire the Right Products: The ability to provide the right product will
make the customer satisfied. As most retailers do not manufacture the products they sell,
they need to collaborate with their suppliers in order to provide the product demanded by

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customers. Hence, the retailers who constantly identify the products the customer will
demand and negotiate with suppliers to obtain these products.

¬ Product Presentation: Often the suppliers provide the basic product and retailers need
to generate interest about the product while presenting to customers. The merchandising
of the product from packaging stage to putting on the shelf is very crucial. Hence the
retailers need to employ creative people who understand and can relate to the market.

¬ Traffic Building: Retailers need to focus on marketing aspects as well. The main
focus is to create customer interest using promotional methods. The best way to measure
the customer interest is by the number of people visiting a retail location or website
which more commonly known as footfalls and the measure is known as footfalls per
square feet. Traffic Building is actually a judicious mix of promotional techniques such
as advertising, including local newspapers or Internet, and customer loyalty programs and
specialized promotional activities, such as coupons.

¬ Layout: Layout of the store covers attributes which are much more than the physical
dimensions of the store and product arrangement. For most retailers, the layout should be
of great visual appeal to customers as well it should cover the basics of ergonomics.
Many retailers often keep renovating according changing trends and create makeovers to
create the right shopping atmosphere (Motifs, objects, light, sound) can add to the appeal
of a store. In the online context also the layout of a website is very important as factors
like easy site navigation and usability are crucial deciding factors for success.

¬ Location: The decision of setting up a store is incomplete without incorporating the

significance of location. Stores located in easy access and which have high visibility
might command higher land usage fees but may hold significantly more value than
lower cost sites that yield less traffic. It is important to evaluate the trade-off between
costs and benefits of locations before arriving at a retail decision.

¬ Technology: Technology has become the basic fabric of the retailing industry today.
Perhaps the most important fact is that retailers who do not understand the ways to use
technology for competitive advantage will be left out in the competition. The use of
technology is present in each and every of retailing including customer knowledge
(Customer relationship management software), product movement (Use of RFID tags for
tracking), point-of-purchase (Scanners, kiosks, self-serve checkout), more. Retailers will
not only need to implement technology in their operations but also challenge their ways
of doing it to succeed

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Indian Retail Industry

The organized retail industry has started in the late 1990s and after a decade it has
surpassed all expectations. It is undoubtedly one of the most fast growing sectors of the
Indian economy and big players from other industries are focusing on retailing like never
before. Some of the key attributes of the Indian retail industry as of today are:

1. It is the 5th largest retail destination globally. This phenomenon has been fuelled both
by the increase of both domestic retailers as well international retailers setting up their
operations in India.

2. The Indian retail industry has shown tremendous growth. In exact numerical terms the
retail industry had done business worth US $ 25.44 billion in the financial year 2007-08
whereas the level business done in financial year 2006-07 was US $ 16.99 billion. This is
an overall industry growth rate of 49.73%.

3. The Indian retail industry boasts of the largest number of retail outlets in the world.
There are total 12 million retail outlets out of which 5 million sell food and related
products.

4. The industry has been the delight of all consulting organization. The recent report from
AT Kearney has declared the industry tops the Global Retail Development
Index (GRDI) for the 3rd consecutive year.

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Store management

Store management involves selling profitably and satisfying customers, while keeping the
store associates motivated to accomplish the first two objectives. As the benefits from
better supply chain management and supplier collaboration no longer offer any
competitive advantage, retailers are now focusing on customer’s in store experience to
differentiate themselves. The store is the place where the retailer’s strategy and efforts
converge. The level of customer’s satisfaction with in the store shopping experience is
the retailer’s ultimate test.
AMR Research states that a customer will stop shopping at a retailer after 3 negative
experiences. These include a product running out of stock, rude or uninformed sales
associates. The lifetime value of these lost customers can be $ 200,000 or more as
estimated by Wall mart. Observing inconsistent store management tops the priority list of
over 90% of the retailers and further more than 71% of the retailers believe that efficient
store management is very important for the overall business success.
Traditionally, the retail industry has taken a limited view of store management with the
primary goal being channeling of the retail workflow. All the other tasks such as
communications and corporate task assignments are taken separately so that the store can
concentrate on its primary goals. On the contrary, the scope and focus of store
management should cover all in-store activities such as customer service, store
promotion, new product launch, receiving inventory and store manager - associate

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relation. Along with a comprehensive view store of management, it is important that all
the retailer operations and IT initiatives take a holistic look towards store management.
For example, a point of sale upgrade would improve check out efficiency, but it could
also impact other areas like customer profile management programme or attendance
maintenance for the store employees.
Therefore keeping the holistic approach in mind, three building blocks of store
Management are taken into consideration:-

• Selling profitably¬
• Satisfying customers and¬
• Motivating employees¬

Building Blocks of Store Management

Efficient store management depends on how well the various marketing strategies are
implemented by the store employees to sell profitably and be motivated thereby leading
to a high level of customer satisfaction. Now let’s take a closer look on the three building
blocks of store management.

Selling profitably depends on:-

• Products in the stock¬

• Informed store employees who can help customers pick the right product¬
• Point of sale systems with right pricing strategy and promotion information.¬
• Customer satisfaction can be ensured by:
• Providing products that the customer wants¬
• Swift checkouts¬
• Store associates being at the right place at the right time¬
• Sales associates can be motivated by:
• Proving them the right tools and adequate job training¬
• Empowering them to make decisions¬
• Providing them some control over their work through flexible working hours
• appropriate benefits.

Tools for Improving Store Management

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Selection of right tools for the implementation of various building blocks of store
management is very critical for a store’s success.
.

Improving customer satisfaction

Today, the point of sale is transforming into the point of convergence of all the channels
including store, web, catalog and all the services that a customer may demand. This
process has been accelerated by the use of customer-enabling devices such as kiosks,
portable/ handheld shopping devices, self check out and employee enabling devices. POS
history systems these days enable customer recognition, tracking purchase, making
personalized offers, providing product and pricing information and line busting. customer
service. One of the major recent advances enables the associates with mobile .Some
retailers use web based kiosks successfully for line busting as well as improving
computers or laptops to perform POS functions resulting in automatic queue busting. The
plasma screens and in-store signs can be used for dynamic promotions by including
various updates and price discounts based on the product demand.

Tools for achieving store management

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Selling profitably

Store inventory management processes help channelize the various in-store activities and
hence allow retailers to:

• Achieve a centralized, accurate and near real time view of store inventory.¬
• Facilitates store managers to fine tune orders using local knowledge and
experience.¬
• Flag items that are needed¬ on the sales floor immediately, during the receiving
process.
• Effectively manage store to store transfers and return processes.¬
• Reduce problems of excessive back shop inventory and insufficient on shelf
stock.¬

End to end pull based planning packages enable store level forecasting and
replenishment.
These systems make store ordering automatic and reduce stock outs by nearly 35-50
percent, while achieving only 2-3 percent reduction in the store level inventory. Retailers
can also use product/price data management processes to improve price integrity at the
store level, increase speed to shelf for new items and promotions and reduce data
management costs in the value chain. Tools such as Cashier Monitoring Service (CMS)
and sales audit software can significantly reduce shrink.
.
Motivating associates

To improve employee motivation and manage labour costs effectively, retailers can
leverage improvements in workforce management processes and algorithms such as:-

• Linking labour forecasts to store schedules based on sales forecasts and

operating¬
• Budgets.
• Linking¬ schedules to time and attendance, payroll and provide exception
Management through alerts.
• Enabling local overrides of centralized forecasts and schedules.¬
• Providing performance and utilization tracking.¬
• Calculating key metrics against stated goals and generating reports for enhanced¬
Matching skills with organizational requirements and employee preferences.¬
visibility.

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• Enabling self-service for common administrative tasks like leave applications,

online¬utilization status etc.

Role of Technology

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Technology is one core competency that enables companies to generate opportunity and
create value. Customer insight cannot be fully leveraged without technology to enable the
relationship. Collecting, housing, analyzing and disseminating this insight into the right
customer facing employee at the right time depends on technological infrastructure. If a
retailer is able to identify its most valuable customers and anticipate their needs, it can
leverage that information across marketing, sales and operations. Success comes when
retailers are able to maximize the value of the customer information to create a
meaningful in-store experience for their best customers.

Turning Data into Insight

The first step in CRM is to capture customer data. The foundation for developing long
term profitable customer relationships comes from the use of customer insights derived
from capturing customer behavior and preferences. These include past transactions,
customer queries across multiple channels. Collecting customer data is however the first
step. Understanding which customers are the most valuable to the business and what
those customers need is where the data becomes actionable customer insight. This
enables the retailer to identify the most valued customers and focus on building a long
term relationship with them.

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Attention to Privacy

Since CRM applications manage a huge amount of personally identifiable information of

the customers, sufficient measures should be taken to protect the data. Violation of
customer’s privacy code erodes trust and may lead to significant brand dilution
.

Leveraging information in building customer relationships

Customer purchase history is tracked by the system allowing the store to query data for
specific items and advertise very cost effectively to individual customers. For example, a
retailer would be able to identify for every new item that they receive of a specific
product or brand what customers would most likely be interested in purchasing based on
data from previous purchases of a similar product or that specific brand. They would
simply query the database for every customer who purchased that particular item and
then merge the data with a word-processing file. They could then send a letter or postcard
telling the identified customers that a product that they may like has been received

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Most Valuable Customers: The customer database also allows tracking and reporting of
gross margin by customer which allows retailers to identify their most profitable
customers and reward them to increase their loyalty.

Loyalty Points: Many stores offer loyalty points to their customers which essentially
reward customers for shopping at the store. The POS tracks each purchase and assigns of
the sale as well as over time. This, while it builds loyalty and points for the total value
increases the likelihood that the customer will shop in the store again, also increases sales
by increasing the average transaction and number of visits.

Missing Persons Query is one of the most powerful tools in CRM. A retailer simply
queries their data base for the names of every customer who has spent over a certain
amount in the store in the past eighteen months, who has shopped more than five times
and who has not been in the store in the past six months. This is a potential “missing
person” someone who has been a good customer but for whatever reason has not been in
recently. A letter is automatically sent to every customer who meets these criteria with a
gift certificate to encourage them to shop again in the store. The results of this letter are
substantial. It gets customers that might have been lost to the store back and they really
appreciate the thoughtfulness of the store. Sales increases in excess of ten percent for this
query alone are common.

CRM Benefits

• Better Customer Service¬

• Customer Support through call center¬
• Handling of Post Sales Service¬
• Building of long term relationships with the customer¬
• Campaign Management¬
• Effective Selling Processes¬

Problems with Legacy Applications in the Retail Sector

¬ Outdated architecture – Most of the legacy enterprise applications in retail have an

outdated architecture that is inflexible and rigid. This inflexibility and rigidity pose a
challenge to the business efficiency. The lack of flexibility prevents the legacy software
to be used with the contemporary products available in the market that May add muscle

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to the retail operations. Today’s business environment demands real time adaptability
from the software systems.

¬ Limited scope – Most of the legacy systems were designed to take care of specific
problems tasks and as a result, lacked an enterprise wide approach to the problem solving
process. This makes such systems unsuitable for use in the contemporary business
environment that is highly competitive in nature.

¬ High maintenance costs – Legacy information systems are costly to maintain. The
cost component is high because such systems are no longer used in the industry and
require specialized personnel for maintenance purposes.

¬ Integration and scalability problems – Legacy software does not allow addition and
integration of new applications. This prevents such systems from scaling up or
integrating with similar systems used by the associates or business partners. Such
integration and scalability problems tend to multiply as the size and scope of retail
operations increases.

¬ Increased risk to the business – A combination of old and new information systems
makes the whole system susceptible to failure or crash. The heterogeneity in the system is
the primary cause of risk. The solution lies in a close knit, homogeneous information
system that can integrate seamlessly with other such systems in real time while imparting
the much-needed stability to the whole system.

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Working of west side stores

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Brands at Westside
Westside stands out from the competition for a variety of reasons. One is that a majority
of the brands the chain stocks and sells are its own, unlike retailers who store multiple
labels. About 90 per cent of Westside’s offerings are home-grown, and they cater to
different customer segments.
The other 10 per cent includes toys, cosmetics and lingerie.
Westside has recently expanded its range of merchandise by offering outfits from some
of India’s best-known fashion designers, among them Wendell Roderick’s, Anita Dongre,
Krishna Mehta and Mona Pali. This is an interesting marketing shift, since it means
moving away from the chains only-our-own-brands concept
.

Merchandise under Westside

Menswear
• Casual wear
• Formal wear
• Sports wear

Women’s wear

• Western formals
• Classy ethnic wear
• Jewellery
• Scarves and other accessories
• Western casual

Kids wear

• Casual wear
• Inner wear

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Footwear

• Men’s casual and formal footwear

• Women’s casual and formal footwear
• Kids shoes

Household Accessories

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• Bed linen
• Towels
• Table linens
• Crockery
• Cook shop
• Glassware
• Cosmetics
• Perfumes
• Watches
• Handbags

Private Brands in Westside

Westside has many private labels in its merchandise portfolio. Private labels in Westside
include:

• 2F4U
• SRC
• Gia
• Urban angel
• Intima
• David Jones
• Richmond
• Head Over Heel

All these brands are produced for Westside only and can be found in Westside only.
These apparel brands are given separate space for displaying their merchandise and more
promotional offers are there on them to increase their sales. At some places, these private
brands are mixed with branded clothes so in that case these private labels are put in lower
shelves. At eyesight level, branded clothes are put.

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Visual Merchandise

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Visual Merchandising is the art of attracting patrons with visual cues so as to generate
more sales. Today, the way the departments are arranged, the location of the escalators,
the lighting-- all are carefully planned to earn the store more sales per square foot.
In Westside, all the category of clothes of all sizes and varieties are displayed and hence
the consumption of space for shelves is reduced. Items such as watches are displayed in a
glass case that implies luxury. An item in a glass case with a lot of space around it
implies real luxury.

Store Layout
The Westside store inside Kakade Centre Port, near E-Square, is having a loop layout as
shown below.

Ground Floor

• Women’s Wear – Western Casual and

• Western Formals
• Women’s Footwear
• Lingerie
• Cosmetics
• Perfumes
• Jewellery
• Watches
• Handbags

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First Floor

• Men’s Wear- Casual, Formals and Sports

• Men’s Footwear
• Handbags
• Women’s Ethnic wear

Second Floor

• Kids wear
• Kids Footwear
• Household
• Gift shop

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• Kitchen Wear
• Gifts
• Infants Toys

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Store Interiors and Store

Exteriors
Store Interiors

The Westside stores wear a bright, festive look and, in keep with the mood of the season,
hosting a festival bright.

Store Exteriors

Marquee- Posters of store are put on all the sides of the store. Focus lights are on the
sides of the
store that makes the store brightly shining at night. Large Westside banners are put which
are
visible from very far distance also. Various brand advertisements can be seen on the
walls and on
ground.

Entrance- Promotional schemes and various discount offer advertisements are there at
the
entrance. Store layout is described at the entrance for the convenience of customers. Bag
or any
other good can’t be brought inside the store and hence bag preserving counters are put up
near
the entrance to keep public baggage.

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Window display- Instead of walls, glasses or window panes are used in the exteriors to
display the merchandise.

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Ambience of Store
Lighting- Stores are very brightly lit from inside and CFL tubes are put all over the store.
Lights
are focused on clothes.

Color- Wall color is off white so that light can be reflected easily and visibility is good in
store.
Paint has a luster in itself i.e. paint is having mirror finish so that light gets reflected and
clothes
and other stuff are clearly visible. Color is also such that it doesn’t get dirtier easily due
to people
leaning against the wall and resting thei5r foots on the wall.

Visual communication- The signage and graphics are put all over the place to promote
various
brands. Promotional schemes are displayed by posters hanging over the various product
ranges.
The brand names are clearly mentioned on boards. Also directional signages are there
showing signage the way to washrooms, drinking water, exit etc. Category signage, Point

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of Sale (POS) and departmental signage are present in many numbers. Westside’s name,
logo and store identity is very clear from the posters.

Music- Basically English as well as Hindi songs are put inside the store but normally
English songs are put up which are famous and are latest. The volume is kept low so that
people can talk among themselves and can easily interact with store personnel’s.
Continuous announcement of schemes are done in between this music playing to draw
the attention of customers and lure them for impulse buying.

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Smell- A fragrant is put in the air conditioning duct so as to spread good smell inside the
store and remove any bad odours present in air. It gives a pleasant experience to customer
and is refreshing.

Security- Security of the store is pretty good. Cc TV’s are put all over the store to keep
check on notorious customers. Infrared detectors are put at the entrance and exit which
alerts guards if person is trying to steal the things. Each and every floor has a security
manager and 3 security guards are appointed for each floor. Security guards specially
take care outside the trial rooms so as to stop people from hiding things inside their
clothes.

Mirrors- They are put all over the store so that people can see how the clothes, watches,
jewelry etc. looks on them. These mirrors are also cleaned at regular intervals. They are
also put inside the trial rooms for customer’s convenience.

Escalators- They are put one at each floor for going down and going up at a normal
speed that makes shopping convenient without making the people getting tired. All the 3
floors are connected through escalators.

IT System

Retail Information System (RIS)

RIS is developed by being used by Westside throughout its retail outlets in India. The
system builds efficiencies into ordering, distribution and merchandising processes and is
designed to provide timely, accurate sales information on an item-by-item basis.
RIS includes: Touch-screen point-of-sale (POS) cash registers with scanners, The
integration of credit-card authorization and gasoline sales into the POS register,
Item-level information to assist in making product-ordering decisions, Hand-held Mobile
Ordering Terminals to facilitate ordering,
Tools to help store personnel determine appropriate product assortment and slow-
moving items, Daily weather reports and merchandising information and updates. The
automation of some daily reporting requirements, such as merchandise and gasoline
sales, and A payroll time-keeping mechanism.
By effectively using the point-of-sale cash register and the in-store processor, Westside
franchisees and store managers have immediate access to the information needed to make
informed ordering decisions by store, by day and day-part and by item. Additionally, the

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product assortment tools supply necessary data to improve decisions on deleting slow-
moving items and to make room for top-selling and new items, all with the goal of
making sure the right product is available at the right time for each customer. The system
is not designed as a time-saving tool as much as a tool to use time more effectively and to
make sound business decisions that will boost store sales and profits.

Vendor Management System (VMS)

The VMS is used by all the major vendors using company’s extranet facilities. The VMS
provides important data on the status of the products from fabric purchase to production
and supply schedule. It is an online information system to link the suppliers with the
company.

Inventory Management system (IMS)

The inventory management software takes care of the company’s inventory planning. The
company has created an intranet. One of the functions is to deliver inventory information
to the head-office in Mumbai. In Mumbai, the merchandiser works on the sale trends
after getting the inventory status and has to take the crucial decision: which product needs
refilling and which one should go slow.

System Application Protocol (SAP)

SAP software supports a number of key processes for Westside. These include strategic
planning for merchandise, margins, and store operation and tactical planning, such as
replenishment and requirements. Procurement policies – both centralized and localized –
as well as sales pricing and promotions, are also handled with the software. In addition,
Westside uses the SAP software for logistics, tracking store sales (through its integration
with the POS system), and executive reporting.

Competition in Zone
Primary Trade Area

Primary are the areas of highest footfall of round about 50 to 80 %, and so are the most
sought after. It has higher no. of customers and contributes the highest per capita sales.

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Secondary Trading Area

Secondary trading area is the one which is located outside the primary zone. In this, the
customers are widely spread.

Territory Trading Area

This includes some out shoppers who are willing to travel greater distances to patronize
certain stores.

Site Location and Evaluation

• Characteristics of the area:
• Good transportation facilities
• High concentration of traffic
• Great concentration of pedestrians
• Geographical centre of settlement

Factors considered by Westside while selecting a site:-

• Sales potential of the area is very high due to urbanization.

• Access to site for pedestrians is very good due to good location of the store.
• People passing by can navigate the store easily. Also, visibility of the store is
good due to its location on the main road.
.

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SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
• Has a brand name of TATA.
• Price difference of 5-10% on apparels as compared to their competitors
• Attractive promotional schemes and heavy discounts
• Store is located at the prime location of Pune

Weakness:
• Stock availability is not that good
• No involvement in food retailing business

Opportunities:
• Untapped rural market

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• Huge potential in Groom and Bridal wear section

Threats:

• Competition from organized retailers like Wal-Mart, Shopper’s Stop etc.

• Competition from local retailers

Analysis of the Westside story

A critical factor in Westside’s success has been its strategy to attract shoppers & keep
them in stores- the amount of time shoppers spend in a store is perhaps the single most
important factor in determining how much they will buy. In having understood the pulse
of the customers in India, Westside has clearly established itself as a brand with an Indian
heart. Over the years Westside has also developed and successfully introduced a range of
new brands especially suited to the Indian palate. These brands like 2F 4U, ASCOT and
RICHMOND has been a tremendous success amongst the new generation. What has also
given Westside a competitive edge is that in addition to an extensive range of
internationally renowned brands like Fast Track, they also offer the option of a less
known brands for low budget customers.
Westside has been able to create a brand image and is consistently maintaining its brand
identity by new additions in products and catering to the market need.
Westside caters not only the clothing needs and desires of its customers but they also
have bed sheets, kitchenware, jewellery, perfumes, baby products, household items, etc.
This way a customer who enters the showroom from the purpose of buying one or two
things usually ends up buying more. Westside caters to the needs of the customers of
different segments. For e.g. they have casual they have both formal and casual wear in
men’s and women’s section. At Westside, sofas have been placed in the men and women
section so as to make them more comfortable.
The in-store experience in Westside is very delightful. Their fully skilled and trained staff
caters to the needs of the public in the right way.

References
• www.mywestside.com
• www.financialexpress.com

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• www.indiaretailing.com
• www.tata.com
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - www.wikipedia.com
• Customer Relationship Management - www.crminfoline.org
• Infosys Shopping Trip 360 – www.fibre2fashion.com
• Store Management – www.infosys.com

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